How i did today with my door to door not coming home with out a new account adventure

Well first of all it was freezing cold when i started at about 930 am.I started out knocking on doors and introducing myself and handing the customer one of my extra post cards with my special on it.I offered my services and said my goodbyes.So what was my results out of 45 houses and 4 commercials,2 over 55 communities? I got 2 new residentials to sign up for lawn care,both at $35.00 " under 1/4 acre each.I signed up 1 small insurance company for a lawn care and snow plow contract, lawn care $55.00 mow,edge,trim and blow just under 1/2 acre, possible mulch and flower beds in future. Snow plow contract for $125.00 small lot and clear walkways,add $75.00 if salted.But best news of the day,i pulled into one of the over 55 communities and talked to a lady outside and found out that they are all responsible for their own lawns and snow removal.I then called the property management office which is on site and explained my companies approach to senior citizens and how i plan to cater to them and she was thrilled and offered me a half page story or add in their private monthly news letter. This gets delivered to every house in the development,Which by the way is about 150 houses. I told her about my special for all seniors and she wants me to meet her at the community club house tomorrow at 9am to sit down and make up my letter / add. Now this add will run for 1 full year " 11 more" issues for $100.00...I think this will be the best $100.00 i have spent since starting this entire Lawn care scheme,so that was my day what you think?

I think you better hope all those seniors don't get mad when you show up with your fancy new gas powered grass cutting machine instead of that manual push reel mower.

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I think you need to give seniors alittle more credit then you do,they may be old but they arent stupid.I really doubt that will ever be an issue!!! I cant believe out of all that exciting news you could only come up with something negative...thanks for the encouragement!

Congrats! Especially for something I'd be fairly sheepish about doing myself. Door to door that is. There will be no bidding or advertising for me until we are out of this deep freeze and the snow disappears.

I'm hardly a salesman type myself and I'm seriously considering leaning heavily on my local want ad newspaper for 90%+ of my advertising budget. It is a very effective tool in my area. 100% of my Rototilling jobs last spring came from these ads. I may still do some door hangers, flyers for some customers however. I'm constantly trying to think up something that will cause me to stand out from all the rest of the LCO's in my area.

I like your approach and your appeal to the classic work ethic. I'm really glad I'm not competing with you in my neck of the woods I'd be sweating bullets.

Wow, sounds like you had a great day Bigw. Congrats on the success. Really makes me wish i had the salesman personality. Ever consider hiring help to handle the labor part and just focusing on selling and the book work? Sounds like you have a real nac for it.

Pretty cool Big W! I have to admit, I was gettin a bit worried about you. Frisbees? You went out and spent a ton of cash on equipment. All that fancy signage.... and no customers.

This first year will be a roller coaster ride. Lots of ups and downs, but you have something.... a drive and a determination to succeed. That will overcome any lack of experience, as long as you don't low ball. With your overhead as a start up, low balling would kill you. Sounds like you have some sales ability. Ya know, the no BS approach always works the best. People can be pretty dopey, but they can see through a BS story more often than not.

Forget the frisbees. That's a gimmick. I call that sort of thing BS. Well intentioned, but gimmicky. You are selling yourself, and what services you offer. That is what people want, reliable service. Just my opinion, but stay away from BIG commercial accounts for now. Build a solid small account revenue base, as you did today. Much less risk that way. Think about those huge commercials next year, get a solid revenue base now. Don't get too cocky and grow too fast. Yer doin great, man! Keep it up!

Congrats! Especially for something I'd be fairly sheepish about doing myself. Door to door that is. There will be no bidding or advertising for me until we are out of this deep freeze and the snow disappears.

I'm hardly a salesman type myself and I'm seriously considering leaning heavily on my local want ad newspaper for 90%+ of my advertising budget. It is a very effective tool in my area. 100% of my Rototilling jobs last spring came from these ads. I may still do some door hangers, flyers for some customers however. I'm constantly trying to think up something that will cause me to stand out from all the rest of the LCO's in my area.

I like your approach and your appeal to the classic work ethic. I'm really glad I'm not competing with you in my neck of the woods I'd be sweating bullets.

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Thanks and you have the right idea on coming up with something different to stand out! My way of standing out is my "special" that i am running for my first 50 accounts and "all" senior citizens. See 98% of all LCOS give your typical 2 free cuts or 10% discounts to seniors but lets look at this,first of all these tactics are old and boring and everyone does them.I mean seriously how does a 10% discount help a senior citizen on a budget? 10% off a $35.00 cut is only $3.50 not very impressive is it? Even 2 free cuts would only be $70.00 a year at say 36 cuts which comes out to be $1.94 discount per cut,even less impressive. My special for my first 50 accounts and all seniors is for anyone that signs on to a lawn care contract i am going to give them 50% off of their snow plowing price and not just for one snow fall but for the entire winter season.Lets say they have a typical 50.00 plow job and it snows 7x during the winter thats a savings of $175.00 or the equivalent of 5 free lawn cuts,now thats impressive to me! How can i do this,well it will take me about 5 minutes to plow a 2 car drive way and even if i deduct for gas and wear and tear thats still about a $20.00 profit in my pocket and x that by 50 accounts thats $1,250 in my pocket for about 2.5 hrs of work maybe alittle more with drive time.Bottom line does this sound good to a new customer that may also need snow plowing done,i hope so,and do i get new accounts for lawn care and still make some money for the snow,yes! Also lets not forget this is just for the first winter and then those i keep as customers will go back to the original $50.00 snow plowing ! Yes dare to do something different!!

Pretty cool Big W! I have to admit, I was gettin a bit worried about you. Frisbees? You went out and spent a ton of cash on equipment. All that fancy signage.... and no customers.

This first year will be a roller coaster ride. Lots of ups and downs, but you have something.... a drive and a determination to succeed. That will overcome any lack of experience, as long as you don't low ball. With your overhead as a start up, low balling would kill you. Sounds like you have some sales ability. Ya know, the no BS approach always works the best. People can be pretty dopey, but they can see through a BS story more often than not.

Forget the frisbees. That's a gimmick. I call that sort of thing BS. Well intentioned, but gimmicky. You are selling yourself, and what services you offer. That is what people want, reliable service. Just my opinion, but stay away from BIG commercial accounts for now. Build a solid small account revenue base, as you did today. Much less risk that way. Think about those huge commercials next year, get a solid revenue base now. Don't get too cocky and grow too fast. Yer doin great, man! Keep it up!

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Thanks so much for the encouragement,yes i am leaving the frisbees alone,actually i had no plan on getting them at all.I was just bored last night and wanted to see if you guys thought it would be a cool thing to do.I am exausted with spending money on any more gimmics or advertising unless its really good like the 100.00 for that half page add.I will also take your advice on staying away from the big commercials and may stay away from them forever,not my cup of tea! No plans to low ball, only to find ways to be competitive with a twist. I really respect your advice you seem to know what you are talking about as so many others on here.A few have nothing but negativity but im weeding them out!!!